My Favorite Video Game Character of All Time: An Essay on Reaver
by hahagirl727
Summary: So... Yeah... I found a few video game prompts I wanted to fill out and prompt #2 was... Your favorite video game character. This ended up turning into an essay about Reaver, so enjoy :D (Really bad at summaries, trust me on this one!)


Day 2 - Your favorite character

_Fable_ is what I describe as a gothic fairytale, it is very whimsical, but is not afraid to go to very dark places. This is how I feel about the character of Reaver, who is my favorite video game character of all time. I have not played _Fable: The Lost Chapters_, but I had watched a friend play it some year's back, but could hardly remember anything about the game itself. All I remembered was Oakvale. I loved Oakvale. Living in a city all my life I had always adored farms and had wanted to live on one all my life. Oakvale was the perfect escape from the grey colors of the city. My friend and I would load up _Fable: The Lost Chapters_ and just walk around in Oakvale, listening to music and feeling the serenity of it all. Oakvale always had a special place in my heart and I bought _Fable II _hoping to see it again and with better graphics. You can imagine my heartbreak when I had discovered that Oakvale had been destroyed a second and final time. I remember the exact feeling when I was walking in Wraithmarsh and then saw the bridge that identified Oakvale. I was so heartbroken that I couldn't play the game for the rest of the day. Everything that was beautiful about Oakvale was gone, robbed from the player. There were monsters lurking in the shadows, it was dark, disgusting, place, plagued with evil. Then Theresa (your guide throughout _Fable II_) tells you Oakvale was destroyed because a selfish man who made a deal with daemons and in return they destroyed Oakvale, killing everyone in it.

After passing through Wraithmarsh you get to Bloodstone, the location of the devious Hero of Skill (aka Reaver). My first meeting with him did not go so well. I saw him as another arrogant jerk to add to the list of unlikable characters in _Fable II._ He kills people just for looking at him funny and has little care for things that do not concern him. It got even worse when I eventually found out he was sacrificing innocent people to The Shadow Court in order to retain his youth and beauty. He even goes so far as to trick you into being his sacrifice, however you can avoid this by picking the "evil" option. When the games ends he has betrayed you no less than three times and I hated his guts. I was glad to see him leave forever, expecting him to never come back. I even went as far as to buying his house in Bloodstone just to spite him.

That was when I found his diary. Most of these entries were funny and pompous, but cruel at the same time. They were very _Reaver_. He was starting to grow on me and was becoming a dark comic relief. I had spoken to one of my friends about Reaver before I had heard the last entry and this was when I had found out that Reaver was behind the destruction of Oakvale. I was so angry that I ran home and decided to find if there was anyway I could kill Reaver, but before I got infuriated I decided to listen to the last entry. That was when my heart broke and the character effectively won me over. While Reaver's tone in the other diary entries was rather humorous and lighthearted, his tone in the last one is dark and unforgiving. He speaks of Oakvale and how he unknowingly offered everything to The Shadow Court to avoid his worst fear. Death. And The Shadow Court gladly took everything away from him. The line, "He asks them for immunity for the disease of time and death, _and they grant it"_ before he says and they grant it he becomes very quiet as if recalling the events make him sick. I deduced that this meant Reaver still has some form of humanity deep inside him. He then mentions a lover he had in Oakvale, only referring to this person as "her." He remarks (his snide tone returning) that he is no longer whom he used to be and he is now Reaver, the man he once was no longer exists. This man will probably never come back and he died with Oakvale. The beauty and vibrancy of Oakvale also represents Reaver. It was once a thing of wonder, but ever since its destruction it has become gnarled and dark. Just like Reaver over the course of his very long life and just like Oakvale, it can never be rebuilt.

Reaver is my favorite video game character because of how much he surprised me. _Fable II_ is not known for having in depth characters, but in comes Reaver this fop who seems to have nothing to him. Most people will write Reaver off as just another annoyance, but if you investigate more and listen the diaries (which I will admit _almost_ made me cry) you can see how deep he truly is. His tragedy and the fact he is becoming progressively worse over time (see The Reaver Team Spirit Award for reference). There really is no saving him. To quote his voice actor Steven Fry, "He has no concept of morality." Speaking of Steven Fry, the character could not have possibly have succeeded without some of the best voice acting I have ever heard, especially in the last entry of diary for reasons I mentioned in the paragraph above.

Reaver becomes far crueler in _Fable III_. This is because Reaver is getting older and the older he has more distaste for life and the people in it. In his final note to you in _Fable III_ he says he must go on a certain mission (his dealings with The Shadow Court), but he seems less excited about it and almost seems bored with life. His zest for life is wearing thinner and thinner in each game. I feel that if he is around for future games he will start to get in trouble with The Shadow Court.

Reaver is the deciding factor on whether or not I play future _Fable_ games. He is such a fantastic character that not including him more would be a shame. His appearances scattered throughout _Fable III _were more like little cameos. I would enjoy seeing more of this character because for me he is one of the best ones ever.


End file.
